UN to investigate reported mass killings in Sudan | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube where we go behind the headlines. to find out more about a story and why. it matters. In this episode, we're. discussing the ongoing situation in. Sudan. The civil war there has claimed. thousands of lives and displaced. millions of people. An emergency session. of the United Nations Human Rights. Council has unanimously approved a. formal investigation into allegations of. a massacre last month in the Sudanese. city of Al Fashir. Earlier, the UN Human. Rights Chief, Volker Turk, described the.

atrocities as a stain on the record of. the international community. None of us should be surprised by. reports that since the RSF took control. of Al Fashir, there have been mass killings of. civilians, ethnically targeted executions, sexual violence including gang rape, abductions for ransom, widespread. arbitrary detentions, attacks on health. facilities, medical staff, and. humanitarian workers,

and other appalling atrocities. I'm. joined by our Global Affairs reporter in. Nairobi, Richard Kagoe. Richard, the. civil war has been ongoing since 2023. Tell us why. Uh it's been difficult for people who. have been mediating uh between the two. parties. So, we're talking about the. Sudanese army and uh the paramilitary. Rapid Support Forces. These were two. allies, but then they fell out because.

of a deadly power struggle uh between. the two of them 2 3 years ago. And so, intervention by regional bodies and also. others led by the UN have tried uh to. sort of like bring uh the two parties to. the negotiating table. They've agreed on. ceasefires, say humanitarian ceasefires, but those don't seem to be holding and. uh the fighting seems to be uh going on. There's total sort of like a disregard. of these agreements. And I think that's.

really the big question. Is there a will. from both sides uh to ensure that uh. they bring the fighting to an end uh. despite uh the devastating humanitarian. cost that this has uh had? And that's. the question that no side seems to be. willing to cede ground and they continue. with the fighting despite the fact that. a lot of people have died as a result of. this and uh the humanitarian burden this. has had on Sudan itself and also the. region. Because the reports of the.

atrocities that we get, they are. appalling. They are. I've had the occasion of. seeing images, uh videos, pictures uh. from our fixers and our field monitors. working for various humanitarian. organizations on the ground there. I'd. give an example of perhaps of Al Fashir. even just before uh it fell to the. paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. So, this was the only remaining army. stronghold in the west of the country in.

the vast Darfur region. Uh there are children, you know, emaciated. uh because of malnutrition. Almost. uh one in every three uh were dying. because of a lack of food. They didn't. have access uh to medicine. Uh people. have starved. Uh we've had uh people who. are uh sick because health centers have. been closed. Uh there's no access uh to. them. Humanitarian corridors have been. closed. So, even delivery of uh.

life-saving assistance has really been a. huge huge huge challenge. So, we've had. reports of women and girls who have. been, you know, sexually abused. Others. taken in as a sex slaves. Uh young men. who have been forcefully conscripted to. fight along, you know, the RSF. Uh we've. also had those who are elderly. They. have been taken in uh for ransom. So, it's a very desperate situation that you. don't just see in Al Fashir alone, but. in various parts of uh uh Sudan. We've.

had uh you know, the RSF have been. accused of targeting civilian areas. Now, these are camps for those who are. displaced. Uh they've been targeting. places of worship like a mosques. Uh. we've seen now uh the conflict assuming. a drone warfare. It's being fought in. the skies. And there's just a sense of. hopelessness and dependency amongst the. general population who really don't know. what they can do. Yes, you mentioned Al Fashir which was. recently taken over by the paramilitary.

RSF. The UN Human Rights Council has. ordered an investigation into the. reported massacre there. What can that. achieve? You you know, there's been. um. talk of, you know, crimes against. humanities and war crimes are being. committed. And this was especially at. the time when the city was falling to. the RSF in mid-October. Uh what we're hearing is that RSF troops. uh conducted various human rights. abuses. And I just mentioned some of.

them like sexual violence, targeting. women and girls. Uh there are reports. also people who are trying to flee uh. being arrested at various checkpoints. that had been mounted by RSF troops. There are reports of mass killings. Uh. the Sudanese Doctors Network tells us. that there have been bodies that had. been piling uh this uh past weekend. Families have not been able to access uh. their loved ones who died and they just. simply wanted to give them a decent. send-off. So, these bodies have been.

compiled and uh disposed elsewhere. So, sort of like the RSF was uh trying to. conceal the evidence of the atrocities. that they did uh commit in Al Fashir. There are reports of mass killings that. have happened. And this has been. corroborated by research that's been. done by uh you know, Yale researchers, you know, using satellite satellite. imagery. And you can see what appears to. be bodies that are strewn all over. across Al Fashir. So, it shows that. indeed that what has been committed.

there uh is really really quite. disturbing. In fact, the RSF leader at. one point, I think it was just 2 days. after the city fell to the RSF, uh he. did acknowledge in an address saying. that uh you know, abuses were committed. and therefore uh they had started off an. investigation mechanism uh to bring. those that were the perpetrators uh to. accountability. Is there any sign of the violence. ending? It doesn't seem so uh because.

uh we still hear that fighting is still. happening within the vicinity of Al. Fashir. What has happened right now is. that um the RSF having secured Al. Fashir, uh which now gives them control. of this vast region called uh Darfur, which is to the west of Sudan. They're. using this now to see how they can. launch further attacks uh to the east of. Al Fashir to the central part of the. country which is uh controlled uh by the. army. So, what we're hearing is that.

just a few kilometers north of Al. Fashir, uh the army has been battling. the RSF who've been targeting an area. called Bara. It's a city in North. Kordofan state. And so, that's where a. lot of people, especially who have fled. from Al Fashir, have been heading to. So, the fighting does still continue. despite the international pressure that. has been coming off from the UN and even. from various countries led by the US and. uh what is called a quad initiative just. asking them to lay down their arms and.

uh give peace a chance. Well, we've. heard that the RSF had accepted to a. proposal for a humanitarian truce uh. which now would allow for uh 3 months. for humanitarian groups to be able to. deliver life-saving assistance to the. population and then followed by uh. permanent ceasefire and hopefully a. transition to human. to to civilian rule. But that doesn't. seem to be happening because the RSF uh. is accused of conducting aerial attacks. in areas even as far as a Khartoum. Even.

just I think uh a couple of days leading. up to this discussion, we heard of. attacks uh targeting the northern state. So, it's it looks quite um it's not. quite promising because both parties. have been accused of committing. atrocities. Uh both parties have been. accused of disregarding uh certain. agreements that they had agreed to. previously. So, it's very uncertain. Thanks, Richard. And you can hear more of that interview. on the Global News podcast along with.

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